Snowflake
by Millijana
Summary: Snow in Kirkwall. somehting Fenris didn't know since then and Aljena tried to make it tempting for him.


The winter already was nearly over before the first snowflakes were falling down one evening.  
Aljena didn't care so much about it. Back in Ferelden she often had seen snow, but Fenris was staring out of the window. She didn't recognize it right away, because she was writing a letter to her cousin, who was planning to visit Kirkwall in a few weeks.  
Until she had finished the letter she wouldn't realize that Fenris wasn't still reading his book, and was still standing at the window, and watching the white layer become thicker with every moment.  
"What are you doing?"  
"Wondering," was his short answer.  
"Wondering what?" She smiled. He was unpleasant that she had realized him.  
"I've never seen snow before. It was something you heard about, but never have seen in Tevinter."  
"Really?" Aljena couldn't imagine a place where you never see snow or a real winter, with cozy evenings in front of the fireplace, with stories and hot drinks. "You want to go for a walk?"  
His head turned around in surprise. "Surely you still have to write this letter to the cousin of yours."  
Aljena smiled. "Actually it's finished. So there is a lot of time now. If you wish I can show you what winter means to me."  
He made a puzzled face for a moment but the he smiled and nodded. "I would appreciate this."  
"Okay, but first we have to get you some shoes, I don't want your feet to be frozen when we get back."  
He smiled unsurprised. "That would be appropriate."  
They found a pair of Bodahn that fitted him and didn't hurt too much while wearing. Yet he looked uncomfortable.  
He shrugged at Aljenas questioning gaze. "It is... unfamiliar."  
"You will thank me later."  
"We'll see." He looked amused. Aljena couldn't believe it, but he seemed to have fun.

They left the mansion, after they fetched their coats and Aljena had a short conversation with Bodahn, which Fenris didn't hear.  
"Where are we going?"  
Aljena could hide her laugh. "Nowhere in particular, just enjoying the snow."  
"Aljena, it's freaking cold. I'm not sure if I can enjoy this."  
She laughed again. "Believe me, you will. It's not the cold alone, it's way more than this. The whole package." She winked before she walked on.

When they reached the marked in Hightown she walked to one of the booths and picked up an handful of snow. She formed it with both hands to some kind of ball. With a mischievous grin she looked to Fenris who still stood in the middle of the place, waiting for her, and now wondering, what she was doing there and why she was grinning the way she did.

He found out quite fast. He ducked the last moment before the snowball would have hit him right in his face. Again there was this puzzled face, which made Aljena snickering.  
He stood there for a moment, before he understood. Aljena ran to the next booth to gather some more snow, for another ball, when she got hit on her back. She had counted on his accuracy. But she wasn't bad either.  
Her next snowball hit him on his head. He tried to duck it once more, but she had calculated this and thrown right in that direction he usually dodged from flying things.  
He seemed to have enough of this kind of game and ran towards her, a wicked smile on his face. She never had seen him this way and was too stunned by his view that he caught her without any resistance on her side. He didn't expect that, so both of them landed in the ankle high snow.

Aljena let out a sound of surprise. Then she looked at his face. In all the years she had known him there only have been very few occasions he had looked like this. It always had been situations, where she had shown him something, he couldn't remember doing, or maybe he never had done, like now, because it was impossible in the life he had lived before this one.  
She smiled and lifted her head a bit until their lips met.  
He gasped when she hit him with her hand full of snow in his face while they where kissing. She laughed out loud, when he tried to get rid of the cold mass in his face. But then he stopped and Aljena knew from his gaze that it was now her time to eat snow.  
She tried to crawl away, but he pinned her down with all his weight. Once again there was this happy grin, this sparkle of joy in his green eyes.  
She shrieked, when she felt the snow on her face and tried to turn her face away, but that only gave him time, to grab some new and rub it again over her face. She laughed until even her mouth was full of white frozen water. She spat it out to take breath. "I give up. You won, okay? I give up."  
He grinned all over his face. "You were right, I do enjoy this."  
She lifted her hands in her wet and cold gloves and pulled his face down to her and kissed him again. His lips were cold, but soft on hers and it was thrilling, when his hot tongue touches her own cold lips.  
He sucked soft on her upper lip and then again kissed her deep and hungry.  
Aljena shivered. She got goosebumps all over her body, and she couldn't suppress the trembling that started.  
"Are you cold?"  
"Me? Not it's quite comforting here in the snow melting in my coat and soaking my clothes." She giggled a bit.  
"Then I suppose, we should head home."  
"Yes, that's a good idea. Then I will show you the next part of an evening in winter," she smiled.  
"I'm already curious what that might be."

Until they reached the mansion they both had started to shiver and they were glad to be back in the warm house.  
Aljena advised Fenris to take off the shoes and coat in the hall and then led him to the library after she had done the same.  
The fireplace was already enlightened with a big fire and the room warm and cozy. On one of the small tables were standing two mugs with a warm drink.  
"Spiced wine", Aljena explained while handing one of the mugs to him.  
Fenris took it and smelled on it. It took a moment but then he raised his eyebrows in surprise.  
Aljena smiled. "You don't know this either?"  
"Why should I? It was never cold like this in Tevinter; there was no need to spice a wine like this."  
"When we were kids, mother always had prepared a hot bath for us. Father had been always the one who went out with us. I'm sorry, but I didn't want to burden Bodahn with the task to prepare a bath for us, so this has to wait for another day. Father always conjured some ice in the bath tube and mother did the rest while we were away. But in lack of a mage in the house… "  
He nodded. "I think we are capable to prepare it by ourselves the next time."  
She smiled. "Sure. Now let us drink and get out of the wet clothes before we catch a cold."  
He raised his mug and waited until she did the same, then both of them took a sip from their wine.  
Aljena watched him. "Do you like it?"  
"I think this evening is even getting better", he answered, while he took the two steps between them and used his free hand to lift her chin a bit and kiss her softly. His lips and tongue tasted after drinking the wine even better than normal, and it made her heart beat instantly fast and aroused her.  
After that kiss she could just think about getting upstairs and skipping the part she actually had planned.  
"I think we should take the book upstairs."  
"Book?"  
"Yeah," she laughed. "Books and stories belong to long winter evenings, like swimming to the summer. Or at least in my memory."  
He turned his face away. She saw she had said something wrong. "Fenris? Look what you have accomplished over the last years. You got a lot back, not all and it still takes time, but right now, we are writing new memories for you. I think you would have liked it as a younger you. So it isn't that beside the point to imagine you would have done this."  
He looked down at her and she saw that he was thinking over the words she had addressed to him.  
He tried to answer her, but Aljena stopped him with another kiss. "Let's get upstairs."

When they walked through the door of the room they saw a fur of some really big animal in the floor in front of the fireplace. There were cushions and two blankets.  
Fenris raised an eyebrow.  
Aljena knew what he meant. It seemed to be a good idea in her head, before they left. But now that she saw it in real, it seemed more like a situation in one of Varric's books. "Cheesy isn't it? I sounded better in my head."  
He smiled. "Only a little bit. But I think it doesn't matter. It is also cozy."  
Aljena smiled back. "Thanks. Then… now comes the part to get out of the wet clothes an cuddle up under those blankets."  
"Let me help you. That's the least I could to after soaking you with snow." It sounded like a friendly offer, but his eyes told her, that he had something different in mind.  
"Oh, no, when I let you do this, we will never end up in those blankets."  
"You underestimate me, Aljena. I would never waste this scenery." He came nearer, and started to open the woolen tunic she was wearing over several other layers of fabric.  
He held his word. But Aljena herself had to stop, before she would spoil her own plan. She still was cold when she took place in front of the fire, not in more than her smalls and the light tunic she wore under the heavier ones. Before she could reach for the blanket Fenris placed himself right behind her and then put the blanket around the two of them. Aljena put the second one on her front and then placed the book on her lap.  
"You really are going to read?"  
"That was the plan. You have other plans?"  
"You wanted to show me something."  
She laughed. "That's true." She took her mug from the ground and took a sip out of it, before she opened the book.  
She started to read a story that her father read to them when they have been a bit older. In the beginning it was no problem, but then she started to remember those times more and more, and what time had made of her family. Soon tears run down her face and she wasn't able to read anymore, because her voice was cracking and not more than a faint whisper. That was when Fenris started to continue reading for her. She fell silent and closed her eyes when her head rested against his chest. The trembling of his voice in his torso was comforting and calming her down.  
She didn't realize that she was sleeping, until he kissed the tip of her ear and woke her up by that.  
"Oh, I'm sorry, that shouldn't have happened," she apologized.  
He chuckled soft behind her. "I thought it was part of the plan."  
"Somehow it is. When I was really young I always had fallen asleep before father finished the story. I woke up mysteriously in my bed the next morning."  
"That would have been my next step."  
"Carrying me to bed?"  
"Something wrong with it?"  
"I… just thought we could…" she smiles hazily.  
"We could what?" he grinned. He knew exactly what she meant, but wouldn't admit it. He wanted her to say it.  
"Make our own ritual, our own memory." She smiled nearly shyly.  
He smiled and kissed her cheekbone. "Something like this?"  
"Yes, that's a good beginning."  
She felt his lips forming a smile on her skin. His lips brushed over her cheek, further down to her jaw, kissed her. Then he wandered further, down her neck, barely touching her skin, sending goosebumps down her right arm, making her chuckle.  
When he gently bit her neck, she stopped it and sighed. This was what she had meant.


End file.
